The Criterion Collection

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

I disagree. In fact, his 'religious' side has become so extreme on his last few films that I'm beginning to reassess all of his films.

As for To The Wonder, it's easily the worst film of his i've seen, and I believe that as a general rule 'stars' should not be cast in 'art' films because they rarely do anything except inflate the budget. Most of the time they are simply distracting. Asking trained actors, especially character actors, to wander, stare and brood is simply a waste of time and resources. The only reason they are there is to secure financing and distribution.

I think there is a lot of spirituality in his films and certain characters and scenes will speak to certain religion (for instance several church scenes/shots in Tree of Life without becoming pretentious preachy or sappy), but in To The Wonder it went over a line and bled into (in my opinion) everything he was trying to say with the piece. I think it failed in that aspect because it was such a shallow pool of ideas that could have meant so much more had the effort not been on the viewer to put all the pieces together. I like putting pieces together and love films such as Mulholland Dr, but doing that here just felt like a pointless chore. It is very much what you put into it. Having a more personal experience such as Great owl is saying might help me connect more with the film or make more out of it, and I've had plenty of bad break ups in my life, but it just didn't work IMO.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by mja345

Affleck's really awful. He's probably one of my least favorite actors of all-time. He's one of those actors who just really annoys the shit out of me. I'm sure we all have actors that do that to us. There's not one role I really like him in outside of "Dazed and Confused". I find Great Owl's analysis of "To the Wonder" fascinating. I wish I had gotten that out of it. I'll give it a rewatch to reevaluate.

I hadn't thought about it but he's probably one of mine too. I think he was terribly miscast in this film, it was hard to take the scenes seriously on the first viewing. He's also on my short list of bad actors who are also bad directors. I'm one of the only people I know who thought Argo was a headache. When I read he had been cast as Batman I said to myself "nobody learned anything from Clooney?" but maybe they'll pull it off. By the way Clooney is also on that short list.

[colbyw]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

I hadn't thought about it but he's probably one of mine too. I think he was terribly miscast in this film, it was hard to take the scenes seriously on the first viewing. He's also on my short list of bad actors who are also bad directors. I'm one of the only people I know who thought Argo was a headache. When I read he had been cast as Batman I said to myself "nobody learned anything from Clooney?" but maybe they'll pull it off. By the way Clooney is also on that short list.

I have a good friend who hates Argo too. But, I feel that Gone Baby Gone was done exceptionally well! I also enjoy The Town, but not to the same extent as Gone Baby Gone.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by colbyw

I have a good friend who hates Argo too. But, I feel that Gone Baby Gone was done exceptionally well! I also enjoy The Town, but not to the same extent as Gone Baby Gone.

Besides casting himself in the lead, the all over the place tone and style of Argo was nothing short of a mess in Affleck's hands. One minute a political thriller, the next a foul mouthed comedy romp. I know my opinion on it is quite the minority, but that was a very mediocre film that could have been much better.

I'm becoming the Debbie Downer of the thread, promise I'll post positively about something soon

[Ausjdm]

Originally Posted by colbyw

I have a good friend who hates Argo too. But, I feel that Gone Baby Gone was done exceptionally well! I also enjoy The Town, but not to the same extent as Gone Baby Gone.

Totally agree I didn't like Argo or the town and never been a fan of Affleck. I still haven't seen gone girl just because of him lol.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

I loved To The Wonder. Is it the masterpiece The Thin Red Line or Tree of Life was? No. But it doesn't have to be, because ALL filmmakers make lesser films.

I too loved To The Wonder. I think of it as a free-form, looser companion to Tree Of Life in the same way that Inland Empire is to Mulholland Dr.

[malakaheso]

Re: Affleck. He is a mediocre director who directly benefits from the fact that standards for American films have lowered considerably.

G.B.G was OK though.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Re: Affleck. He is a mediocre director who directly benefits from the fact that standards for American films have lowered considerably.

G.B.G was OK though.

Yeah but he has a great penis.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Yeah but he has a great penis.

Ray, didn't you mention that Milton Berle is your favorite comedian of all-time?

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by mja345

Ray, didn't you mention that Milton Berle is your favorite comedian of all-time?

I'm more of a Richard Pryor guy myself.

[octagon]

I thought Gone Baby Gone was quite a bit better than okay. As far as recent crime thrillers go it's right up there with The Lincoln Lawyer and Tell No One.

All of which I think would hold their own against the likes of Murder My Sweet or Kiss Me Deadly.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I'm more of a Richard Pryor guy myself.

Ah, ok. Pryor was the comedian's comedian, as they say, Bill Hicks was the thinking man's comedian, and Milton Berle was quite clearly the penis aficionado's comedian.

[colbyw]

Originally Posted by octagon

I thought Gone Baby Gone was quite a bit better than okay. As far as recent crime thrillers go it's right up there with The Lincoln Lawyer and Tell No One.

All of which I think would hold their own against the likes of Murder My Sweet or Kiss Me Deadly.

So I guess i need to watch my digital copy of Lincoln Lawyer now cuz I love love love Tell No One, Kiss Me Deadly, and especially Murder My Sweet

[pedromvu]

While not an Affleck fan by any means I have to say that I really like Gone Baby Gone, and also thought it was perfectly cast on Gone Girl, as long as he keeps making movies with the word "Gone" in the title he is fine

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

I too loved To The Wonder. I think of it as a free-form, looser companion to Tree Of Life in the same way that Inland Empire is to Mulholland Dr.

While I totally get the comparison, the same style and free-form is used by Malick in Tree of Life. Subject matter and location aside, Mulholland Dr. is a much different beast compared to Inland Empire. I agree that both TTW and IE had a 'free form' production and viewing experience, but beyond the cinematography and music Malick completely bored my mind, while Lynch compelled interest and imagination through the acting and vignette-like approach. There are a handful of scenes that could work as sketches in IE that I feel are better than the whole of Malick's film.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

While not an Affleck fan by any means I have to say that I really like Gone Baby Gone, and also thought it was perfectly cast on Gone Girl, as long as he keeps making movies with the word "Gone" in the title he is fine

I am a big fan of David Fincher. While I thought the trio of serial killer movies Seven, Zodiac, The Girl with dragon tatoo can't be topped, Gone Girl absolutely knocked me out...Affleck is great in that movie as an actor...

[Show spoiler]The glass breaking scene where he learns about missing wife's pregnancy is awesome.

[nitin]

although I would agree that there have been diminishing returns from Affleck as director, I still thought Argo was quite good, The Town was very good and Gone Baby Gone was excellent.

Someone else mentioned also disliking Clooney as director, personally I thought both Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and The Ides of March were very good and Good Night and Good Luck was excellent. The rest I dont care for that much.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

While I totally get the comparison, the same style and free-form is used by Malick in Tree of Life. Subject matter and location aside, Mulholland Dr. is a much different beast compared to Inland Empire. I agree that both TTW and IE had a 'free form' production and viewing experience, but beyond the cinematography and music Malick completely bored my mind, while Lynch compelled interest and imagination through the acting and vignette-like approach. There are a handful of scenes that could work as sketches in IE that I feel are better than the whole of Malick's film.

Yeah M.D felt like a Lynch best-of reel type film to me. Inland Empire was something else while still being his own.

[octagon]

I need to give both Confessions and Ides of March another look at some point but I thought Good Night and Good Luck was exceptional.

And major kudos to Robert Elswit...the black and white never seemed even remotely gimmicky and that's really hard to pull off.

[Ausjdm]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I really liked Terrence Malick's To the Wonder, although it did not affect me quite as much as the director's earlier films.

I thought of To the Wonder a couple of weeks ago, in fact, during a conversation with a friend. This friend had divorced her husband of 15 years after she had discovered that he was having an affair. She lamented to me that she had "wasted 15 years of her life."

I responded with my opinion that, if she had enjoyed the past 15 years of the relationship, then that was not wasted time. In a sense, all that we are doing is passing time, and, if we enjoy those years, then that's the best that we can hope to achieve. None of us will receive a prize at the end, except for, perhaps, a nice outfit and a shiny box.
(I have a rather odd way of looking at things, but my friend was reassured by my take on the situation.)

Malick's To the Wonder seems to accentuate my above opinion, in that, although the relationships in the movie are not permanent, they were never "wasted time." I love an early scene in the movie when Olga Kurylenko's character is telling Ben Affleck's character that she does not expect anything other than for them to share a part of their lives together. It's really quite a beautiful film about the nature of relationships.

To the Wonder also has an undeniable flow to it. The characters are actually "dancing" throughout the movie, almost as if to a ballet, and it really does play out like a silent film in that sense.

Damn Owl great analysis on To the Wonder I never thought of it in that context. I get Malick was going for a free form style but I think the lack of script or form was too much to overcome for this one and I love Malick! I think Tree of Life is one of the best movies of this century...